This invention relates to a tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus wherein a magnetic tape is drawn out of a tape cassette and brought into a desired tape path of travel.
It is known that, as a result of improvements in magnetic tapes and transducing heads, a very compact tape recorder utilizing tape cassettes is now widely used as a sound recording and reproducing apparatus. However, it is necessary in a tape recorder of this general type that the magnetic transducing heads move into the tape cassette to contact the magnetic tape. This movement of the heads sometimes causes breakdown of the lead wires attached to the heads and also makes it difficult to secure the heads in the required accurate operative positions.
In order to solve these problems, an improved tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus has been developed wherein a magnetic tape is drawn out of the tape cartridge and contacted with the magnetic transducing heads secured on a stationary head base plate of the apparatus. Although such improved apparatus solves the foregoing problems, it is not entirely free from drawbacks. In the apparatus of this kind, the tape drawing mechanism is apt to exert an undesirable force on the tape and to make unpleasant noises during its operation. In addition, such apparatus is apt to have a complicated structure for providing a secure tape guiding system especially for recording and/or reproduction of signals on narrow tracks defined along the tape.
Accordingly, it is readily evident that the tape drawing and the tape guiding must be accomplished with relative reliability, accuracy and, in a commercial product, with structure which can be built at a small expense. Accordingly, there has been a need for an improved tape drawing mechanism and an improved tape guiding system of the kind described herein.